


Boy, Where Do You Think You're Going

by Jibbly



Series: liberty bell aus [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Experimentation, Kid Fic, M/M, Mild Gore, Mpreg, Slow Burn, hydr flash backs, there's six years between catws and cacw here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 12:49:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8446432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jibbly/pseuds/Jibbly
Summary: That small head of blonde hair whips around and glares at Steve. He isn’t prepared for that anger.“This is all your fault.” More tears come and her glare crumbles. She’s furiously wiping at her eyes and hiccupping in distress.Sam leans in to whisper in Steve’s ear. “Who is that?”Steve stares helplessly at those hunching and shaking shoulders, whispering back to Sam. “She’s Bucky’s daughter.”“What?” It’ whispered through clenched teeth.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been wanting to write another fic for a while but couldn't think of anything till @Nerd gave me inspiration on tumblr this afternoon  
> Title is inspired by "Joanne" by Lady Gaga  
> There's six years between catws and cacw in this fic  
> i know, just. There is in this fic for the sake of ages and stuff  
> Also, this isn't abo

Sam had given him the coordinates and the estimated time that they had, before the police and swat closed around the place. The apartment building was old and almost decrepit, but he guessed it was a perfect place to hide and lay down low. Someone whose face had been plaster all over everyone’s most wanted list would probably hide.

He came in through the door, careful of any traps Bucky may have placed, but there was surprisingly none.

There were signs of life everywhere. Wrappers of food and even a couple of freshly washed dishes in the sink. There was one mattress on the floor and a thick, soft blanket. Steve walked over and spotted a notebook with what looked like posted notes sticking out of it.

Flipping it open, he scanned over the messy writing. Some of it was in English, and then in other languages. A schedule. Notes of what had happened that day. Then a picture of Steve torn from the exhibit he had gone too. The script surrounding the picture made Steve’s heart squeeze painfully in his chest with longing, and then there was a shift in the air and Steve slowly turned around.

He had been expecting to see brown hair and grey eyes, but was thrown off by the head of long blonde hair instead. Steve looked down at the book in his hand to make sure he hadn’t made some kind of mistake and gone into the wrong apartment, but Bucky’s handwriting stared straight back at him.

“Who are you?”

It was in English and the sweet light voice made Steve look back up to the small girl on the other side of the room. She was wearing a sweater and jeans that had seen better days. Her hair was shiny and well-kept though, and she didn’t look underweight. Steve opened up to mouth to talk but he caught sight of the girl’s eyes.

They were gifted with thick plentiful lashes and the most stunning light grey that Steve would know anywhere.

There was another shift in the air and then he was being shoved into a wall.

There was that slight whirring noise and Steve knew it was a metal arm recalibrating. His face was pressed sideways into the old wallpaper, but he could see the person behind him.

Fierce eyes were glaring at him, but the hand that was keeping him in place wasn’t putting any unnecessary force. He thinks of the last time he saw that face in person and lets out a shuddering breath.

“Buck.”

There’s a tensing in the other’s jaw, but he doesn’t do anything to confirm or deny the name.

“What are you doing here?” It’s said softly and that voice makes Steve relax against the wall.

“Buck, do you remember me? Know who I am?” He has to ask, to make sure. He tries very hard not to let his eyes wander back to the little girl in the corner of the room.

The arm that is holding him flexes a bit. “You’re Steve.”

Bucky averts his eyes for a second, but Steve catches it. “I read about you from a museum.”

“Liar.”

Bucky tenses up, but keeps Steve pinned against the wall. “Doesn’t matter. What are you doing here?”

The girl walks to sit on the bed and the movement makes Steve’s eyes flick to her. Bucky sees it and moves his body to block Steve’s sight to her, pressing Steve more firmly into the wall. “What. Are. You. Doing. Here?”

Steve grits his teeth at the force, but turns so he’s looking into Bucky’s eyes again. “I needed to find you.”

Bucky frowns. “Congratulations, you found me. Now what?”

Steve is quiet for a second, thinking about what he needed to do and what was happening around him. “Are you going to kill me?” He asks and sees Bucky’s eyes flicker.

It’s a spilt second, but it’s all Steve needs to catch Bucky off guard and flip their positions. Bucky is being pressed into the wall now, his back to it and Steve’s arm across his chest.

The girl on the mattress quickly stands up from where Steve can see her from the corner of his eyes, but doesn’t look away from Bucky.

The other is glaring at Steve and throwing looks to the little girl. Almost as if he’s telling her to stay where she is.

“Bucky.” Steve says again, and the brunette looks at him with something like resignation. “Are _you_ going to kill _me_?”

“No.” Steve says like he’s being gutted and Bucky raises his flesh hand to Steve’s arm against his chest and gently starts to tug it down. Steve lets him, still wary, but thinking that the initial fight or flight is over.

[“Steve, they’re closing in on the building.”] Sam’s voice rings in his ears, and Bucky can hear it too from the way he darts a look towards the girl again.

Steve steps back and watches as Bucky quickly walks over to her and kneels down so that he’s eye level with her.

She is staring straight at Steve. A frown on her pretty face and Steve has the feeing in the back of his head that she might hate him at the moment.

Bucky’s voice is soft and sweet and everything he used to sound like when they were together in Brooklyn. It makes his heart ache.

“We need to leave. Do you remember what I said about number 3?”

She nods and looks to Bucky. “Are we going with _him_?”

Bucky turns to look back at Steve and Steve feels his stomach sink to the floorboards. “No.”

There’s another warning from Sam in his ear and then Bucky is punching his arm through the floorboards and yanking out two backpacks. He quickly puts his on and the girl does the same. They have two minutes before the police are knocking down the door to Bucky’s apartment, but Steve watches as Bucky and the girl walk to the balcony.

He finds his breath again and hurries to catch up to them. Bucky quickly picks up the girl and she glares at Steve from where her arms wrap securely around the other’s neck.

Steve grabs his arm and turns them both to face him. “Where are you going to go? Will you tell me?”

Bucky stares into Steve’s eyes and there’s that flicker again.

There’s pounding at the door, probably a battering ram, and it jolts all three of them. Bucky pulls away from Steve and runs back into the room. Steve stares as he whispers to the girl and she nods, arms tightening around him, and he runs. Fast and straight past Steve off the balcony.

Steve barely has any time to think about it, since the door splinters open and he’s being assaulted by the swat teams.

\---

Bucky lands so that the impact is mostly on his back instead of his chest, groaning in pain.

“Are you okay?” A small voice asks and he nod. They need to get out of the country again.

He’s about to stand up, when he hears a gasp from the bundle in his arms. He turns fast enough to throw his arm up and stop what looks like claws that had been inches away from them.

The person in front of him is covered head to toe, and there’s a moment of hesitation as he takes in the little girl in Bucky’s arms. It’s enough for him to be able to kick him in the chest and fling the other person back.

Bucky drops the girl on the ground and tells her to run. The man is back and now without the girl in Bucky’s arms, he’s ruthless.

She looks at Bucky being shoved back into an air conditioning unit and her eyes are filling with tears. She’s scared and she knows that she was told to run. To go to their hiding spot. Number 3. But there’s those claws so close to Bucky’s face again and she can hear the ugly words the other person is saying.

“You killed my father.” Its growled out and Bucky’s face is strained with the effort of keeping that hand away from his face. He flickers his eyes to the girl and yells out.

“Get out of here!”

She stares at him and then there’s someone else tackling the person and Bucky rolls out of danger. He quickly grabs her arm and carries her again as Steve and the other person start to grapple with each other on the roof.

Bucky looks down into the opening to the fast traffic of the cars and jumps. Holding his breath until his feet meet the ground against and he has to dart to the sides to avoid getting the both of them hit by cars.

He’s running, and then there’s more car honking and horns in the tunnel. He looks back, not stopping at all as he sees that both Steve and the other person are running after him.

\---

Steve swallows down the anxiety he feels at being surrounded by guns and tries to move in front of Bucky. The man breathing heavily and arms still securely around the little girl. Rhodey tells him to come quietly. Tells all of them to. Steve doesn’t have a choice, but he almost fights the arms that are securing his behind his back, when he sees Bucky being shoved to the ground and the girl ripped away from him.

There’s a second where that wild look from the Winter Solider peeks through when the little girl starts to cry and yell at the men holding her. And Steve is ready to rush towards the both of them, when one of her sobbed filled screams fill the air of the tunnel.

“Daddy, No! I want to stay with Daddy!”

Steve freezes and so does Rhodey. But the men pulling her away do not.

Bucky yanks once, but then tells her that it’s okay. She doesn’t calm down at all, crying and shouting to go with Bucky as he’s stuffed into the containment unit they brought for him. Before the door closes, he looks at Steve whose being pushed into the van where him, Sam and Prince T’Challa will be in.

It’s whispered, but with his hearing. They both know that Steve can hear it.

“Don’t let them hurt her.”

The girl is seated in the middle row, away from all of them and not handcuffed. She is still sobbing though, and Steve has to try and comfort her.

“What’s your name?”

Sam gives Steve a look from the side, but doesn’t do anything to stop him. He didn’t hear what she had said through the earpiece. That she was Bucky’s daughter.

That small head of blonde hair whips around and glares at Steve. He isn’t prepared for that anger.

“This is all your fault.” More tears come and her glare crumbles. She’s furiously wiping at her eyes and hiccupping in distress.

Sam leans in to whisper in Steve’s ear. “Who is that?”

Steve stares helplessly at those hunching and shaking shoulders, whispering back to Sam. “She’s Bucky’s daughter.”

 _“What?”_ It’ whispered through clenched teeth.


	2. Chapter 2

They are placed in glass office that has surveillance video cameras on. Steve, Sam, T’Challa are being held right now. They can’t do anything to the King, but Steve and Sam are “on thin ice”. Natasha graciously whispered to him as they were moved from the van.

The red head had looked at the little girl and then towards Steve. Sharon next to her and equally as confused. Ross hadn’t known what to do with her, so she was sitting at the table with them as the monitors against the wall lit up with a confined Bucky.

The little girls postured changed from guarded to open at the sight of the brunette.

Steve wanted to ask her so many questions, but she absolutely refused to acknowledge him.

Sharon was the one who got her to eventually say her name.

_“My name’s Elizabeth.”_

Tony had walked in then, and it only got worse from there.

The older man visibly stressed and anxious. If Steve wasn’t so worried about Bucky, he probably would have cared more. Offered comfort.

“You see Rogers, this is the opposite of laying low.” It’s said playfully, but Steve just stares at him.

Tony deflates and sags into one of the chairs. “At ease, Soldier. I’m trying to be a peace maker here, you know.”

Steve feels bad and takes the seat opposite him. “I know.”

Tony’s gaze flickers over to the cameras. Barnes is docile and calm in his cell. “It would be kind of redundant for me to ask you to stay out of this, isn’t it?”

“Tony,” Steve sighs and leans back in his chair. Elizabeth is standing between Sharon and Natasha and her grey eyes are glued onto the monitors. “He’s my friend.”

“I know. But there’s also laws, Steve. Which, you and Sam happened to break a couple in the last couple of hours.”

Steve smiles. “Only a couple?”

Tony smirks but it falls when he brings up the Accords again. Steve is tense and unbudgingly.

They don’t end up in an agreement, again. And Sam, T’Challa, and Elizabeth are taken back into the room with Steve.

The lights on the video monitor change and then there’s someone new in the room with Bucky. Steve can see that his mouth is moving, but he can’t make it out at the angle.

Then there’s a second of static and Bucky’s voice filters into their temporary holding cell.

_“My name is Bucky.”_

Steve sees the look Sharon gives him and he nods to her in thanks.

“Who’s that man?”

The light voice makes Steve jump, not expecting it. He turns and sees How Elizabeth is biting at her bottom lip and looking at the screen. Her eyes flickering between the man and Bucky.

Sam gives Steve a look. Steve clears his throat and tries his best to not sound threatened by the tiny blonde. “He probably a therapist. Or analyzer.”

She looks at Steve but only for a second, to let her glare linger. That hate he feels directed at him, makes the hair on the back of his throat stand up.

“My dad isn’t crazy.”

Sam is the one to talk now. “Nobody is saying that. They’re just trying to see how dangerous he is.”

She frowns. “You all are the ones who are dangerous.”

T’Challa who had been quiet, speaks next from behind her. “He has killed many people. He is a murderer.”

Elizabeth turns to look at him, unflinching and unafraid. “and you were going to kill him. So, that almost makes you one too.”

\-----

The lights cut off and then all four of the people who were at the table are gone.

They are running. Trying to find Bucky before someone gets killed. Steve was going to carry Elizabeth, but she yanked out of his hand. Sam was the one who took her then, Steve saying to take her while he went to look for Bucky.

Bucky was gone. And the Winter Soldier was on the prowl.

They fought and he took a beating, a few minutes where he had to climb out of the elevator shaft that he had been thrown down. Then he ran, as fast as he could to the roof. Bucky was already in the pilot seat and the blades of the helicopter were spinning dangerously in the air.

The feet of the chopper lifted off the roof and Steve jumped up to catch it. He felt like his arms were going to be torn off as he held onto the railing of the building with everything he had.

He had just found Bucky. He wasn’t going to let him go again.

He had a split second to move, before the copter changed directions and crashed onto the building. Then he was being dragging into the river.

A loud crack vibrated once they hit the water and Steve struggled to keep air in his lungs as he felt Bucky’s metal fingers untangle themselves from his throat. He had to break some more of the glass with his elbow to get to Bucky, as the doors wouldn’t budge.

He carried the both up and took a lungful of air. His chest burning from the effort of keeping the both afloat. Bucky a dead weigh in his arms.

There was sirens and police swarming the building already.

He had made it to his and Sam’s rendezvous point. He was exhausted and Bucky was still unconscious.

Elizabeth saw Bucky and pushed away from Sam and sat down next to him. Lightly patting his face and tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. “Dad, wake up.”

She looks up at Steve and he swallows his nerves. “He’s alright. Just hit his head.”

Sam takes one side of him, while Steve takes the other and they haul Bucky towards a room in the back. Elizabeth following them, but stops when she sees the magnet. Steve lets go of Bucky gently, and walks up to it, placing his hands under it and getting ready to lift the heavy object up. “What are you doing?”

Steve looks back at her, but Sam tells him to keep going. He strains his arms to lift the thing up enough for Sam to place Bucky’s metal arm under it and then he’s pinned.

Elizabeth hits the back of Sam’s legs. “you’re a liar! You said that you were going to help my daddy! But you’re just like him!” She points at Steve and she starts to cry. “He never does nothing bad, and you guys keep on hurting him.”

Steve seizes up. “What...?”

Sam lifts a hand towards Steve and then kneels to be eye level with Elizabeth. “Liz, can I call you Liz?”

She wipes her hand over her nose. “Daddy, calls me Libby.”

“Libby, you don’t like Steve very, much, do you?”

“No. He makes daddy cry.”

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

The words make Steve feel like an entire bucket of ice water has been dumped on him.

The first thing that goes through his head is the train. Or not catching Bucky. Of letting him fall.

“What…” His words are broken as he looks into those angry eyes that look soo much like Bucky’s.

Sam ignores Steve and keeps to eye level with Libby. “Why does Steve make your daddy cry?”

Libby looks back at Sam, but sits next to Bucky, her small fingers clenching at Bucky’s shirt. “Whenever Dad talks about ‘Steve’ he gets sad. And when he would look at his picture, he would cry sometimes.” She glares at Steve. “He told me you’re nice, but I don’t believe him. If you were nice, you wouldn’t make Dad cry.”

Sam sighs and tries something else. “Where’s your mom, Lib? Do you know what happened to her?”

Libby frowns at Sam, but shakes her head. “I don’t have a mom. I only have a dad.”

The words make both the men sad, but also nervous. “Everyone has a mom. Even if they don’t know them.”

Libby just tucks herself against Bucky’s sleeping form. The river water must sink, but she doesn’t seem to care. “I don’t have a mommy.” She turned away from the both of them, and they both knew that the conversation was over, for now.

Sam tilts his head to the side to Steve to tell them they need to talk. The blonde nods, eyes glued to the two other people in the room. Sam walks past him, and Steve follows into the room next door. Both still with clear sight to both Bucky and the little girl.

Sam leans his head close to whisper to Steve.

“this doesn’t make any fucking sense.”

Steve swallows but agrees.

“Who the hell is that girl? Is she really even his kid- “?

“She’s his.” Steve interrupts, and Sam looks at Steve’s solemn face.

Frustration makes the darker man rub at his eyes and rearrange his stance. “Okay, I’m not even gonna ask how you’re so damn sure, because you’re say something like ‘I just know, Sam. My super soldier powers tell me so.’ So, I’m just gonna ask the next thing that’s wrong here.”

Steve speaks this time, voice quiet as he sees the way Libby’s head has turned a little more towards them. He wonders if she can hear them from this far away. If she has some of the super soldier abilities.

“Where’s her mom?”

The question is simple, but pretty much impossible to answer with Bucky’s light out. The girl obviously doesn’t know. Or Bucky hasn’t told her.

“You think she worked for Hydra? The mom?” the question makes something squeeze unpleasantly in Steve gut to think that. That Hydra had someone get pregnant with Bucky against his will, because that’s how Hydra rolled isn’t it.

“I don’t know, Sam. Maybe?”

Sam sighs again and Steve feels bad at having dragged his friend into this mess with him.

“What are we going to do if he wakes up and isn’t your friend?” Sam asks seriously to the blonde.

Now Steve knows that Libby can hear them with the way she looks sharply at him, as if waiting for his answer as well.

“I don’t know, Sam.”

\---

It’s an hour since Steve pulled him out of the river, there’s police and helicopters all over the city, when Bucky starts to wake up.

He groans and Libby is excited, but Sam pulls her back just in case. The little girl angry, but stops when Steve starts asking her dad questions.

Bucky’s eyes are squinted and pain as he feels the bruise on his head whenever he moves his face. He looks at Sam and how he’s holding Libby and Steve’s tense jaw.

“What did I do?” He asks desperately. Hoping that he didn’t kill anyone. That Libby didn’t see him kill anyone.

Steve tells him and he swallows the regret that choking him in his throat. He doesn’t remember, but he doesn’t doubt the words are true. He had panicked when the phases were being said. He didn’t want to be him again. To be the fist of Hydra.

He swore under his breath at not being able to stop himself. He was so weak.

Once they know he’s himself, Sam lets go of Elizabeth and Steve lifts the magnetic so he can move his metal arm.

She holds on tightly to his chest that’s still soaking wet, asking if he’s okay. He nods and threads his flesh hand through her soft blonde hair. He’s whispering soothing and calming words when Steve speaks again.

“Who’s her mom?” It’s asked quietly, but Bucky feels them shake his entire body.

Tucking Libby into the crook of his arm, Bucky looks up at Steve. The man who he feels like followed him through time. Or did Bucky follow Steve?

“She doesn’t have one.” He says. His voice neutral.

Libby glares at Sam. “I told you.” She whispers.

Steve steps closer to him and Bucky sees the familiar flecks of green in his blue eyes as the blonde kneels in front of him. His expression is pained when he asks the next question. “Was she created artificially?”

Bucky continues to run his fingers through her hair. She has been the center of his world for six years and he would kill anyone who tried to take her away from him. “In a sense.” He answers cryptically, which Sam is having none of.

“cut the bullshit, Barnes.”

Steve gives Sam a pleading look and goes back to Bucky. Looking at the way he is shielding Elizabeth in his arms even in front of Steve and Sam.

“Buck.”

Bucky clenches his jaw. “She’s mine.”

Sam sighed, but Steve ignored him. “I know, Buck. But was she…was she created in a lab or….” Steve knew it sounded bad, and Bucky saw the discomfort it brought him.

“She’s mine. As in, I birthed her.” It’s said so seriously, but Sam still lets out a laugh.

Steve isn’t laughing though. “What…Buck, but you’re a – “

“One of Hydra’s favorite pastimes was human experimentation. You both know that.”

\---

_He’s heavily sedated while they cut him open and moved around his insides. They wanted him awake. Always awake. But at least he couldn’t feel any pain. He thanked whatever he could for at least that._

_The doctors surrounded him were speaking incoherently. He thinks the drugs are messing with his hearing. Whatever they gave him must have been insanely strong._

_The surgery that they’re doing lasts for two days. He doesn’t remember any of it._

_\---_

_He’s taken out of cryo by a rough looking man. He yanks him to his feet when the cold of his limbs make Bucky fall to the floor when he steps out of the tube. The chill making his teeth chatter as the man pulls him through white clinical halls and into a large communal shower._

_It’s empty inside, and the man leaves him weakly leaning against one of the half walls as he grips a shower handle and points it in is direction._

_The water is hot. Scorching and painfully hot against his frozen skin, but he keeps his jaw shut. Teeth grinding so hard he thinks he’s going to crack them._

_The shower lasts a second and the slush that slung to his skin from the cryo is swirling down the drain._

_The man walks back to the door, but doesn’t pull at Bucky again so he stays standing in the middle of the room._

_Coming back inside, he offers a bundle of material at him and orders him to get dressed._

_He does as he’s told. But he doesn’t put on the tactical gear he is used to. He pulls his arms through the medical gown and stares at the person in front of him. His handler._

_“Come on.” He says as he turns back to the door. Bucky’s weak limbs pushing himself to follow his handler._

_He walks past several doors and the glass windows let him know that he’s in medical facility._

_Is handler stops at one door in particular and holds it open for him to go into to. Bucky does and sees that there’s two other people in the room already._

_There’s an older woman with a long white medical coat and round glasses that frame her green eyes, her light brown hair pulled neatly in a bun in the back of her head._

_And then there’s an aged man in a suit. He has piercing blue eyes and there’s something about his face that makes Bucky want to bash it into the counter where an assembly of jars and cabinets sits._

_“Rumlow, makes sure he’s secured and we’ll begin.” The man says to who Bucky assumes is his handler and then he is being lead onto the table at the corner of the room._

_His bare back crinkles the paper on the table and then his feet are being secured to stirrups, his legs forced apart to bare him to everyone in the room._

_He doesn’t even bat an eye._

_The woman smiles up at the older man. “I can’t believe you got a sample from Rogers.”_

_The woman reaches behind herself and grabs something from the counter before she’s seated between his wide legs._

_“Perks of being head of Shield is you have access to all medical and physical exams.”_

_There’s a moment where he can hear squishing sounds, and squeaking as is something plastic is being rubbed, before he feels pressure at his asshole._

_His jaw clenches, but he doesn’t move._

_\---_

_He stands on the opposite side of his target._

_His gun in his hand and ready to aim and take him out._

_“Bucky, don’t make me do this.” The words are laced with some emotion that he cannot place. The look on his targets face makes him think that he’s handsome. Heartbreak suits the blonde._

_He raises his gun and aims for his head._

_\---_

_He dragged Steve’s body out of the river and stares at him in disbelief. He remembers._

_His name is James Buchanan Barnes._

_And he’s a murderer._

_\---_

_It’s three months that he’s on the run that he notices that the heaviness in his stomach isn’t just him gaining weight._

_On the fourth month, when he’s puking every morning and the smell of fish makes him gag, he thinks that something’s very wrong with him._

_On the fifth month, he sits in a deserted apartment building as he watches the Avengers take out a threat in London. He sees the flash of the shield and thinks of going to Steve._

_On the sixth month, the small belly is now becoming obvious and he situates himself in Mexico. He remembers the operation then. The insemination. And then the words._

_“_ I can’t believe you got a sample from Rogers”

_He pukes in the trash can by his bed and he’s sure it isn’t because of his morning sickness._

_He stays in Mexico until he takes a knife to his stomach on the ninth month. He’s hesitant that he’ll kill whatever is inside him, but he needs it out. He needs it out, right now._

_It’s bloody and gross and there a minute where his insides are covering the bed, but he pulls out a squirming mass from inside himself, and tears open the sack it comes in. He doesn’t have time to look at it though as he quickly tries to sew himself back in piece._

_He thinks it would be hilarious if he dies like this._

_He loses so much blood, but he sews shut his stomach knowing that it’ll probably leave a nasty scar when it heals._

_He’s on the verge of passing out, but the cries next to him make him look at the bloody thing that he took out of himself._

_He gets the corner of the blanket that doesn’t have blood on it and wipes at its face._

_Little eyes open up and Bucky stares into them._

_For the first time since he realized what was growing inside of himself, he calls it his baby._


	4. Chapter 4

Bucky tells them. How he was experimented on. How they had inseminated him, and how he had cut himself open in some deserted town in Mexico to take out his baby girl.

He didn’t tell them she was Steve’s.

He didn’t want that to be something else that weighed on the blonde’s mind. Bucky knew that the Steve that he remembered would blame himself. That he already blamed himself for everything that Bucky’s been though.

Bucky’s kept Elizabeth to himself for all these years.

Looking at the furious and gutted expression on Steve’s face as he finished his story, Bucky selfishly decided to keep her to himself for a little bit longer.

Sam was disgusted that Hydra would ever do something so wrong, but it didn’t catch anyone else by surprise in the room.

Bucky felt Elizabeth shift a little to burrow herself a little tighter into his arms. Bucky had already told her how she had been born, but it had been very vague since she was four at the time. She was a little older, and he would have wanted to wait until she was at least ten to tell her, it seems that time like a lot of things were not on his side.

“Buck…” Steve’s broken voice snapped him out of his thinking and he stared up at the blonde.

“I’m so so-“

“It’s not your fault. I know you’re going to blame yourself, so stop.”

Bucky stood up and put Lib down next to him. Steve’s expression looking a like Bucky had hit him.

“You didn’t know I was alive. It wasn’t your fault, Steve.”

He said it again. He didn’t want Steve to feel sorry for him.

Bucky felt a hand grip his and he relaxed a little more. He been through hell and back, but at least he got this. At least he got Lib.

Sam coughs into his hand to break the tension in the atmosphere and everyone is looking at him now. He looks at Steve first, and lets his gaze rift to Bucky and Libby. “We need to start moving.”

Steve nods and it takes a while for him to stop looking at both Bucky and Liberty. “Yeah.” Turning to look at Sam. “We need a car. And to call Clint.”

\---

Sam had been the one to steal the phone out of a passing man’s pocket. Quickly dialing the secure number and then ditching it at a nearby restroom. Steve and Bucky had taken to stealing a vehicle.

It was a bit of an isolated area of a parking garage, and Steve and Bucky were careful to avoid any cameras that could pick them out. Libby sitting in an area out of view but both of them could still hear her breathing.

They shifted from vehicle to vehicle, trying to pick the best one. Careful to not trip any car alarms.

Bucky pulled on the door of a suburban and found the door open. He climbed into the front seat and looked around to see if it was their car. He was in there for a few seconds, before there was a shift in air and he whipped his head to the opened driver’s door.

Steve easily filling out the frame.

“Not this one.” Steve says and Bucky frowns.

“Why not?”

Steve smirks and Bucky stares at the way those eyes cline in the corners a little. “It’s a soccer mom car.” He jokes and Bucky can’t help the small huff of breath of air that escapes him in an almost laugh.

He turns and slips out of the suburban, closing the door behind him. “Jerk.”

Steve is still there, right up in his space and Bucky has to tilt his head up because of the few inches taller the blonde is than him. The air that had been light and airy, is now heavy and filled with tension as Bucky stares into Steve’s eyes.

Steve is there and so warm almost pressing into him. He knew that he had had feelings for him, before Hydra. When he was just scrappy Bucky Barnes from Brooklyn. Head in heels in love with a punk who’s hands and feet were too big for his skinny self.

He remembers the kiss they shared when they were fourteen hanging out on the stairs outside of Steve’s ma’s apartment. The air conditioning busted and both of them outside for the fresh air that reeked of someone’s bad cooking.

How both of them had been awkward and the kiss had been way too wet and clumsy. And the only kiss they had ever had, too scared of getting bullied and killed for being queer.

“We need to be looking for something to drive us out of here.” Bucky says softly and Steve hasn’t looked away from his face for a second either.

Steve nods. “Found it already.”

Bucky raises an eyebrow and he can still hear Libby’s breathing. “Then what are you doing here, staring like an ass at me for?”

Steve finally takes a step back and that tender look in his eyes makes Bucky clench his jaw.

“I missed you. “

Bucky sighs and turns away. “I know you did, Steve. Now, let’s go see this car of yours.”

\---

To say that Sam’s unimpressed at the bright blue beetle that pulls up to the spot they had agreed to meet him at, was an understatement.

He was more impressed that Steve and Bucky were even able to fit themselves through the door frames of the tiny car.

Steve comes out of the driver’s side and smiles sheepishly at Sam.

“Really? This thing?”

Steve puts his hands on his waist and laughs looking down. “Well, at least no one will think we’re in there, right?”

Sam tilts so that he can see both Bucky and Libby sitting in the back seat. “You comfy in there, big guy?”

“Fantastic.” Bucky answers laying the sarcasm on heavy.

Sam sighs but can’t help the smile that’s on his face. “I’m driving.”

Steve makes a face, but hands him the keys and walks over to the passenger’s side. Getting in, Sam puts the keys in the ignition and throws his arm over the head rest of Steve’s seat. looking at everyone in the car. “Does anyone need to go to the restroom before anything?”

\---

It was a long drive, and after the first couple of hours, Steve offers to let Sam take a nap as he drives. Sam nods and leans his head against the window as the old metal of the small vehicle bumps against the road.

The driving’s a little boring, so Steve fiddles along with the radio. He occasionally looking into his rearview mirror to see Bucky stroking his fingers through Elizabeth’s hair. The little one asleep for the moment and tucked into her dad’s side.

Steve frowned to himself.

Bucky had “given birth” to her, so what did that make him? Her mom? Or her dad?

“I can hear you thinking.” Bucky says quietly, metal fingers gently combing through a loose knot in Libby’s hair. Steve sees Bucky’s grey eyes look at him through the rearview mirror and he turns his back to the road.

It’s quiet for a bit, before Steve speaks. “You could sleep for a bit too, if you want.”

Bucky just shakes his head. “Think I’ll pass. With you driving, we’ll be lucky not to end up in a ditch.”

Steve scoffs.

“One time. And we were getting shot at.”

Bucky smiles. “Remind me why we thought it was a good idea to let you drive for the first time in enemy territory?”

“Because I’m handsome?” Steve grins but keeps his eyes on the road. The fond memory of Bucky getting after him when he had crashed their jeep into a ditch when trying to escape a raid.

“Handsome with the driving skills of a baby giraffe.” Bucky smiled into the air, missed by everyone in the car.

They ride in comfortable silence for another hour, the radio playing low and long stretch of road ahead of them.

“Why didn’t you ever come find me?” Steve asks in the quietness of the car.

He grips the wheel a little tighter, feeling a little guilty for kind of trapping Bucky into having this conversation. “You must have known that I was looking for you.”

Bucky is staring at him, Steve can see from the little bit of rearview mirror in his peripheral vision. Bucky’s lips set in a firm line.

“I knew. I just didn’t want you to find me.”

Steve clenches his jaw, turning onto their exit. “Why?”

Bucky is looking at him when Steve checks him through the rear-view mirror. Their eyes meeting for a couple of seconds, before Bucky is the one who breaks the contact first. Readjusting himself in the back seat.

“Doesn’t matter, anymore.”

Steve frowns as he sees Bucky close his eyes and lean his head back against the set, telling Steve that the conversation is over with the exposed line of the other’s throat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we're getting closer to the big airport fight scene aren't we??


	5. Chapter 5

They pull into the parking garage and stop the car next to a large van. Clint is already outside waiting for them and when the car is put into park and Steve takes out the keys, Wanda steps out of the passenger side.

She looks a little anxious, but she is happy to see Steve and walks up to him for an embrace that the blonde gives easily.

Buck steps out of the car and so does Libby, the two of them being met with raised eyebrows from Clint. The blonde looking towards Sam for some kind of hint. Sam just asks him who he brought with him.

Clint pouts, but moves to the side door and pulls it open. “He might need a little coffee in him.” The bang of the door opening makes the man in the van jerk awake from where he had been sleeping. He looks around and clears his throat to get rid of some of the embarrassment. Hopping out, he dusts himself off but his eyes light up when he realizes that the built guy in front of him is- “Oh hey, you’re Captain America!” He turns back, finger pointed at Steve as he looks at a humored Wanda and Clint. “It’s Captain America.”

Steve ties his best not to grimace and give Scott a smile, but when Steve looks back, he can see that Bucky is covering his mouth with his fist and the corners of his eyes are crinkled. Libby is busy staring at Wanda and Clint. Her sharp eyes roaming over the new people that have been added to their group.

After Scott finishes touching Steve, they start talking about what’s about to happen and what they need to do. It isn’t long until the whistling of the iron man suit can be heard and Sam and Steve share a look.

They need to get ready. Steve turns back to the car and sees Bucky kneeling in front of Elizabeth. The little girl frowning pretty severely at what her dad seems to be telling her. Steve walks up to them, the rest of the team changing in the garage except for Wanda that climbs back into the van to change her clothes.

Bucky looks up at him and Steve can see that he’s nervous. Steve kneels down with them and looks at Elizabeth. His voice low so that only Bucky and her can hear him.

“You stay lose to Wanda. She’ll make sure nothing happens to you.”

Bucky and her immediately disagree with him.

“She’s staying with me.”

“I don’t have to listen to you.”

Steve frowns, and can’t help the way he thinks that their faces are so much alike in that moment. He looks to Buck and shuffles on his feet a little to get comfortable. “She can’t stay with you in this fight. You and I are going to be the prime targets right now. Do you understand that. Tony and whoever else is waiting for us outside have orders to bring us in. Wanda…. She’s a telepath, and she’ll make sure no one hurts her okay. That’s the safest place for her to be.”

Bucky clenches his jaw, but Steve knows that he can see that Steve has a point.

Turning his head, he faces off with Elizabeth now. Steve knows that she doesn’t like him, but that’s not important now. He needs her to listen to him, or else Bucky and him will have one more thing to worry about out there.

“Lib-“

“No. I’m staying with dad.”

Bucky shifts his position and is a little closer to Steve and Steve sees that she catches the movement. “Libby, he’s right. Wanda will…” He furrows his brow. “She’ll keep you safe. It’s only for a little while.”

She’s looking close to tears, but she huffs and puffs. “Why are you listening to him? You don’t have to listen to him. He’s …. Steve’s bad.”

Steve feels gutted at being told he’s bad by Bucky’s daughter, but the brunette just leans forward. “No, lib. Steve’s…He’s not bad. He’s a good person. The best one I know, and we gotta listen to him. Do you want me to worry about you and I get hurt? What happens if I get captured and can’t protect you?”

She is bouncing on the balls of her feet and wants to argue. She wants to stay with Bucky. They’ve been together since she was born, and all this separation between them recently is making her anxious.

Steve takes in a deep breath and puts a hand on Bucky’s shoulder, the man jerking a little and turning so that he’s looking at Steve. The both of them at the same eye level.

“I’ll make you a deal.” Steve turns towards Libby. Her small face still pouting, but most of the anger is gone. “I’ll make sure to keep you dad safe. That nothing happens to him, if you promise to be with Wanda and let her keep you safe.”

Bucky is staring at Steve, and the blonde can tell that there’s something that he wants to say to him, but Steve’s eyes are focused on Elizabeth.

“I…” she looks towards her dad. Her teeth biting her bottom lip before she looks back at Steve. “I’ll hit you if you let anything happen to him. I’ll hate you forever.”

Steve nods. “I promise.”

\---

The fighting is going bad. Bad.

Sam and the rest of the team is in his ear telling him that him and Bucky need to leave them behind. Bucky is looking at him with wide terrified eyes. His breathing is hard and he turns to look in the direction of Wanda.

The telepath’s hand glowing red with trying to help everyone out and Lib standing by her side, her head whipping around to look for both Steve and her dad.

They’re too far away and in the thick of the fighting.

Bucky looks back at Steve. Neither of them know what to do, but Sam and Clint are telling them that they need to go. Now.

“Steve….”

“Buck, we- “He doesn’t get a chance to finish talking, because their hiding spots are blasted with a pulse beam from War Machine and they go scrambling. Steve gets to his feet quickly, and sees that Bucky is running towards Wanda.

“Damn it.” Steve swears under his breath and goes running after him.

He’s not even half way there when a flare of light flashes in front of both Steve and Bucky, they look up to find Vision coming straight towards them. The floating figures halts in the air and the can see the glowing sparks of red surrounding his body.

Wanda is panting with the exertion that she must have used to keep him there. Libby is staring at them from where she stands and her grey eyes are wide.

Wanda’s strained voice breaks through. “You need to get out of here.”

They’re still too far away from the two girls. Tony’s suit having picked up on them from the sky. Bucky is refusing, staring at Libby. Wanda snaps her wrist and Vision goes flying in the same direction, but she falls to a knee. Tony is flying towards them now.

Steve can’t hear her, but him and Bucky still as they read her lips from across the airport. Libby’s mouth telling them to go. Bucky is shaking his head, but a burst of impulse from tony has them stepping back and Steve takes the chance to yank on Bucky’s arm and he’s dragging him towards the hangar.

Libby is yelling at them while they run.

“If anything happens to my dad, I’ll hate you forever!”

Bucky is yanking at Steve’s hold on him, but Steve doesn’t let go. The tower next to the tower is cut in half by a laser and he doesn’t think they’re going to make it. There’s a flow of red energy on the falling structure and they run into the hangar just as it collapses.

Steve’s hand is thrown off and he looks back at Bucky. The brunette furious and his eyes starting to look red rimmed.

There’s a noise to the other side of them, and they both whip their heads towards the jet. Natasha is standing under it, arm aimed at them and her eyes looking the most uncertain Steve’s ever seen them.

He really doesn’t want to fight her. She’s probably the closest thing to a friend he has besides Sam.

His fingers inch towards the shield, and Natasha fires.

The shock goes straight between him and Bucky and there’s a groan of pain from behind them.

T’Challa is kneeling on the ground and Natasha is stepping closer to them. Steve looks at her in shock.

She smiles, one side of her lips curling up a little more, but he can tell that she’s scared.

“We’re even now.” She says to Steve and then looks to Bucky. There’s some kind of recognition on both of their faces, but Natasha speaks to him. “I’ll get her out of here.”

Bucky stares at her for a few seconds, but she’s firing another round into the other man and Steve pulls at Bucky’s arm.

“We gotta go Buck.”

Bucky stares up at him, a look of hurt and a little betrayal there. He shakes Steve’s hand off again, but they run into the jet, the entrance closing and them leaving the hangar. Bucky looks down from his window and sees how Wanda is down with Vision next to her and Libby staring up at them leaving.

\---

It’s quiet in the jet, Steve having put the coordinates in and it going on autopilot.

Bucky sat down against the side, his back sliding against the wall as he slides down it. He left her. His baby girl. He lifts his head up to see Steve get up from the pilot seat and Bucky can’t make himself hate him.

He takes in a shaky breath and can feel the heat at the back of his eyes.

Steve’s boots come into his line of sight, and then so does the other’s knees. Bucky looks up and watches the regret that plays over the blonde’s face.

“I’m sorry.”

Bucky lets out a shuddering breath, his chest feeling like it’s locked in.

“Steve, I need to tell you something.”

Steve’s stares at him and shifts, he’s nervous. Bucky can see those flecks of green in his eyes again.

“What is it?”

 

 

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lots of pov changes ugh

_They moved to another house. This time somewhere where it smells like trash at certain times of the day if they go out. Which they don’t do a lot of._

_It’s also loud here. There are people and cars yelling t al hours of the day. She doesn’t mind it. She has learned to be able to sleep through anything, because she knows that daddy will make sure nothing happens to them._

_Daddy is the one she never sees sleep. Even though, she knows that he has to sometimes. Only for an hour or two, with his head resting on her tiny lap._

_She can speak very well. Daddy tells her so, and he’s taught her a lot of different ways to speak, too._

_They’ve been in this little house for two weeks around, and it’s one of those rare times where Daddy let’s himself fall asleep._

_She looks down at him and think that his hair is getting long. It’s almost as long as hers._

_Standing up, she walks over to her backpack and opens the second zipper to take out a granola bar. She tries to keep from being too loud, because she wants him to sleep. He’s always so tired, and they are always careful everywhere they go._

_His backpack is next to hers and she sees that notebook again. The one that Daddy will look at and write things throughout their stays in. Turning back to the blankets on the floor, he hasn’t moved. She reaches into his bag and takes out the book._

_It’s rubbing off on some of the binding and letters, but she starts flipping through it. Her reading isn’t the best yet. Still having to sound out most words, so she skips most of the long paragraphs that he writes in blue pen. Going to the next post it note._

_It's a drawing that she did last year of them. It makes her happy to see it in the book, the handwritten note on the side saying “Libby. 3 Years Old.”_

_He had gotten her some crayons that day and she had drawn pictures for days, and gave him this one because the green she had used for his hair had made him look like a pineapple._

_She flips to the next post it note, and she stops on a page that has a picture tapped to it. There’s a bunch of like writing all around the picture, and she can’t read most of it. Some of the letters are hard for her to read. She hates it when she confuses b and d._

_It’s a picture of a man that’s wearing some kind of uniform and he’ saluting._

_She doesn’t know who he is, but he must be important if Daddy has him in his notebook._

_\---_

Tony is so distracted by Rhodey and getting him medical attention as soon as possible, that he doesn’t notice that Romanov is missing. And she isn’t the only one.

If he had thought that the spy had helped Rogers and Barnes escape when that jet had gotten out of the hangar, then he had it basically confirmed when the little blonde girl went missing along with her.

Barnes’ daughter.

In a way, with Ross tearing into him and him seeing what’s become of the rest of their team, He’s glad the both of them aren’t here.

Tony is swimming in guilt and Sam is laying it on thick. He knows that the guy isn’t lying. But he’s also wrong. There’s no right and wrong answer in this situation and it’s giving him a major headache.

\---

_Libby is only eleven months old when Bucky goes back to the States._

_She is a relatively well tempered baby, which he is grateful for. He wouldn’t know how to deal with constant crying and yelling. It’s easy enough. She’s either hungry, tired, or has to go to the restroom._

_She’s a good baby, and there’s no reason for him to want someone to help him, but he does. He wants help. Not with Lib, but with himself._

_He’s afraid that he’ll get triggered by something. A gunshot in the distance, a foreign accent that rings in his ears the wrong way, or just the flash of blue eyes and blonde hair. He’s terrified that he’ll turn back into the Winter Soldier with her._

_That he won’t recognize his own baby girl, and do something horrible._

_It’s this haunting fear that makes him leave Mexico and hop the border. The residents in the border cities happy to help someone with a baby._

_After that, it’s just stealing cars and other kinds of modes of transportation until he reaches New York._

_He shacks them up in some rundown apartment complex that only has homeless people on the bottom three floors. He situates them on the ninth floor, and makes sure to booby trap the top three and bottom three floors on either side on them._

_There’s a lot of tourists at this time, which is easy enough money to make from pick pocketing._

_He stays in the apartment for twelve days, with the little stash of cash and food he was able to smuggle in for him and Libby. On the thirteenth day, he cradles her on his lap while she tries to kick off the socks on her feet. Little bubbles pop on her lip as she furrows her brow trying to reach her foot, and he grimace at the slight grossness of it._

_She grabs hold of her foot and only tugs her sock about half way off before she seems to give up on that task and simply shove her foot in her mouth instead. Her eyes are bright and grey like his, but the tuff of hair at the top of her head that goes just past her ears now is the dark blonde that is so familiar to him._

_He gently takes the foot out of her mouth and rearranges her sock on her foot._

_He wonders if she’ll look more like him or Steve._

_His entire body stiffens as he hears an explosion go off about two miles away from them._

_\---_

The jacket that she had isn’t enough to keep her warm with how fast her and the woman behind her are driving. They’re on a motorcycle and speeding down some unknown street.

They’re keeping off the main roads. She knows that.

The woman that took her from the airport and told her she would take her to her dad, huddles over her a little more as she speeds down the road. The both of them are wearing helmets, and Libby is glad that at least her face isn’t as cool as her hands.

She had no reason to trust the woman, having only seen her the first time they took her dad away from her. The lady’s red hair something that’s easy to forget.

\---

_Bucky doesn’t know if there’ll be more explosions so he takes want he can in his backpack and holds Libby down the flights on stairs._

_There’s people running in the opposite direction of the explosion came from. He’s about to follow their lead, blend into the crowd, and look for another place to stay in when he hears a whistling in the air._

_He looks up, but makes sure to keep the lid of the baseball cap he’s wearing down low enough to hide his face._

_It’s a suit of armor that’s flying towards the destruction, along with a helicopter that doesn’t have any side doors. There’s a person looking out of one and Bucky’s breath stops._

_It’s Steve. He’s there, going straight into whatever is happening in the city._

_Bucky sees the copter fly only a little bit more and then Steve is being dropped off. He’s too far away to see him, especially with all the people that are still running in the streets. But for the first time in about two years, him and Steve are in the same place and the same time._

_He's in Captain America mode, and Bucky goes against the swarm of people to go into the building across from the one he had been in. He takes the stairwell and goes to the top floor as fast as he can. Libby in his arms awake and her eyes looking everywhere, but only little sighs escaping her._

_He gets to a window and peers down the street to see that Steve and three more people, including the armor suit as facing off against two other people. They look more like machines from this distance though._

_Bucky stays there. In that dusty old apartment, looking down at Steve fight through the cracked window._

_There was a moment or two when he had almost reached into his back pack and taken out his rifle. But he couldn’t. Then they would know someone was here. Then Steve would know he was there._

_Bucky clenches his jaw._

_He had come to find Steve, hadn’t he? So why can’t he get up from the floor?_

_The fighting doesn’t take long._

_There’s more time that Steve and the three-other people start talking to authorities and Steve helps in looking for anyone that might have been caught in the crossfire._

_He still doesn’t leave his crouching spot._

_He stays rooted in place, even after Steve leaves._

_Only snapping out of it when a whimper makes him look down. Libby is fusing in his arms and He realizes that he’s been in here for hours._

_He takes in a deep shuddering breath and smiles down at her._

_“I’m sorry. Are you hungry?”_

_He feeds her and she quickly falls asleep after that._

_Bucky stays in New York for two more days until he leaves._

_They’ll be fine._

_\---_

Bucky looks at Steve now and wonders how different everything would have been if he had just gone to him all those years ago, in New York. While Libby was still a baby, and he wasn’t being hunted for something he didn’t even do.

“I need to tell you something, but I don’t know how you’ll react to it.” Bucky says and sees how there’s nervousness that creeps into Steve’s expression. It stings a little to know that Steve has every reason to not trust him.

Steve tries to crack a smile none the less, even though it’s riddled with nerves. “I promise not to get mad?”

Bucky knows that it’s a joke, but he hopes that Steve will keep it. “It’s about Libby. I know who her father is. As in, the person’s sperm that they used to impregnate me with.”

Steve’s smile slips off at that. There’s confusion there. “You know the donor?” Steve looks down at his hands for a second, before clearing his throat and speaking again. “Was it someone who worked for Hydra?”

There’s something swimming around in the blonde’s head. A thought that Steve doesn’t find pleasant, and Bucky hopes that it’s not what he thinks.

“Yeah. I’ve known since before she was born.” Bucky leans forward and Steve stares at him warily. “It’s you. “

Steve’s eyes are wide and Bucky thinks he looks scared a little bit too. That look of unpleasantness is gone, replaced by shock.

“What?”

Bucky places his elbows against his knees and takes in a deep breath. Hanging his head between his shoulders. “A super serum child born of two parents that had the serum in their blood already. They didn’t know about the others. No one did except for the Russians. So, it was always going to be you, Steve.” He looks up and sees that same look on Steve’s face as when he had told him about the insemination and him having to give birth by himself.

Like he was blaming himself for what had happened to Bucky.

\---

Steve is sitting in shock at what Bucky is telling him.

The brunette is seemingly deflated in front of him, with his head between his arms.

“All this. All this happened because of the serum.” Steve says mostly to himself.

Hydra hadn’t known about the other super soldiers. Only about Bucky. And himself.

If he hadn’t had come out of the ice, would they had done this anyway. Cut Bucky open and shove all new parts in him.

“This isn’t your fault.” Bucky says to him with a sigh.

Steve knows that. But…

“They wouldn’t have done that to you if they didn’t have another person with the super soldier serum.”

Bucky frowns at him, and Steve wants to argue at him. Tell him that this whole situation, not just hydra, but the accords, Bucky being framed, Elizabeth being left behind, and everything that’s happened between them these past ninety years.

Sometimes he wishes that Bucky had never left to the army that day.

That Steve had never met the Doctor.

That they had both just stayed dead so that they wouldn’t have to deal with all the crap that the world seemed to enjoy throwing at them.

“they may or may not have done it, but that doesn’t matter. Not anymore. I got Elizabeth out of all this. And she’s….” Bucky runs a hand over his mouth and looks at him earnestly. “She’s everything to me, Steve.”

Steve looks at Bucky, at his longest friend and the heartbreak that is playing over his face. “We’ll get her back, Buck.”

\---

_She was asleep, dreaming about the time they stayed in Ireland in the country, when a shuffling noise makes her wake up._

_She just opens her eyes as she wakes up, not really moving from her spot huddled against her dad’s stomach._

_It’s dark out, so it must be late. Even the constant loudness of the city they’re in isn’t as loud._

_She looks up and sees that her dad is rubbing at his eyes. “Daddy, are you crying?”_

_“Hey, lib. It’s nothing. Just…I’m just thinking about something from a long time ago.”_

_She sits up a little bit more, Bucky no longer rubbing his eyes but his eyes are still a little red._

_“Is it something sad? Did something bad happen to you?” She asks curiously._

_Bucky smiles, but stares up at the ceiling. There’s a bit of mold in the corner of the room, that she’s count on boring days._

_“I wouldn’t call it sad. Just…. It makes me miss some things, you know?”_

_She frowns, not really understanding. “You miss something? Like a toy?”_

_Daddy laughs deep in his chest, but runs a hand through her hair. “No, Lib. More like a friend. A really good friend.”_

_“What happened to your friend, Daddy?”_

_He’s quiet for a second. “He had to go away. I did, too.”_

_“Where did he go?”_

_Bucky let’s out a deep breath and it makes her rise with his chest. “Somewhere far away. Somewhere I couldn’t go.”_

_She stays quiet for a bit, trying to understand what was being said to her._

_“Did you ever see your friend again? Did he stay in that far place?”_

_“No, He came back. We saw each other again.”_

_Libby lies down her head, a yawn making her eyes wet. She was tired. “If you found your friend, where is he? Did I meet him?”_

_“No, you’ve never met him. He… He’s very busy.”_

_She frowns at that. “He’s too busy to see you? He doesn’t sound very nice.”_

_Bucky smiles, but continues to pet her hair. The soothing feeling putting her back to sleep._

_“He’s a punk, to be honest. But he’s…. Steve’s….”_

_Bucky stops talking when the sound of light snoring fills up the small apartment._


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait between chapters.  
> This fic probably has one or two more chapters left and this is one of my favorite stories, i think.  
> I might not be the kudos monster that some of my other fics are, but i feel like this fic is just a lot more well rounded? Feels like a solid story, and I want to thank all of you who take the time to read this. :)

Steve feels his heart beat in his throat as Tony looks at him with tears in his eyes. The man’s look of utter betrayal and barely restrained fury feeling like a slap in the face for Steve. His hand had yanked on Tony as he had turned towards Bucky. It was a knee-jerk reaction.

“Did you know?”

Bucky is looking at him, he can feel the other pair of eyes as he looks at Tony, helpless. He opens and closes his mouth twice, almost ready to deny it, but he can’t do that to Tony. He can’t lie to him in his face like this. When Steve has been caught so red handed.

He tries to swallow the dry lump in his throat and nods. “Yes.”

Tony takes a step away from him, and Steve thinks that he’s about to start to crying. It’s between one breath and the next. The punch hits him hard across the face.

\---

_They are in Ireland._

_Bucky and Libby meet an older man a week into their stay who is looking for help fixing things up at his farm. The pay is low, almost nothing really, but the old man lets them stay in a small weathered cottage on his property for free._

_It’s made from gray stones that have vines weaving in and out of the cracks. The window has caked on dirt, and the man said that there are some holes in the roof. There’s two rooms in the house. One for the kitchen and one for the bedroom with a queen bed and uneven dresser._

_Bucky is up before the sun is on the week days, but he makes sure to feed himself and Libby before he leaves. The old man telling him that he’s free to take any eggs or vegetables that he needs for food from the farm._

_It’s very labor intensive work, and he wonders how the old man had been doing these tasks. Or how long it’s been since someone did them. He has a break in the middle of the day and he uses it to go back to the cottage and make them lunch. Libby happy to see him and wondering if she can go with him. He says no for now. He wants to get a better hang off things first._

_She’s still relatively little. About four._

_She knows that they have to keep who they are a secret, because She’s as smart as a whip. She is his and Steve’s, after all._

_When the sun starts going down, work is over for the day and the old man thanks him and wishes him a good night. Bucky watches as he hobbles back towards the main house with his lopsided walking stick._

_Libby is sitting down in the steps of the cottage when he goes back, and he’s usually covered in dirt and grime. She is drawing in the dirt in front of the house. Her clothes are a bit dirty, but only the tips of her sleeves and the bottom of her pants. Her hair is long and curly, becoming a mess of gold in the setting sun._

_She sees him and jumps up to run over and hug him. He bends down at the knee and takes her into his arms, swinging her a little as she lets out small excited squeals. He sits her on his hip and he starts to walk inside, stopping in front of the drawing. He looks down at the scribbles and gives her a raised eyebrow. “What were you drawing?”_

_She looks very serious as she frowns at him. “It’s a cow.”_

_Bucky looks at the dirt and smirks. “I don’t think cows have seven legs.”_

_“My cow does, because he’s-um-he’s super fast!”_

_Bucky walks into the house and turns on the lamps, setting the inside in a warm glow. “How fast is he?”_

_“Fastest! Fastest in the world!”_

_“Faster than me?” Bucky teases her, and sees how she puffs out her cheeks._

_\---_

Natasha curses as she ducks behind the wall they are currently hiding behind. They had to hide the motorcycle behind an abandoned restaurant when She saw some people that made the hairs at the back of her neck stand up.

She hadn’t even needed to tell Elizabeth more than she thought they were being followed. The little girl’s eyes had gotten a sharper edge to them and had nodded. Following Natasha’s movements with little to no difficulty.

Natasha wondered how James had been raising her. Hopefully a lot kinder than she had been raised in the red room.

\---

Steve had been breathing so hard and the adrenaline is refusing to leave him as he hears his blood pumping in his ears as he stares down at Tony. And the shield that had sliced the reactor in the middle of his chest. So, close to the other’s heart.

A couple of inches higher, and Steve could have taken Tony’s head clean off.

Tony is staring up at him, pupils blown wide with his terrified expression.

Steve looks off to the side as the light of the iron man suit dies out. Tony can’t even do anything. Not anymore.

Bucky is laying down on the hard concrete, panting out white breathes and hand clutching to the exposed shoulder of his blown off arm. There’s not even a look of pain on his face. Steve knows that Bucky must be in shock. The pain he’s in is probably horrifying.

He stands up on trembling legs and walks over to Bucky, feeling Tony’s eyes tracking him once he yanked the shield out of his chest plate.

He bends down and hauls Bucky up, the other falling into his shoulder as Steve takes half his weight.

Tony is shuffling behind them, and Steve stops as the other’s words are yelling at him. Steve is just so exhausted and he can feel how Bucky is almost on the verge of passing out. He just…. doesn’t care about what Tony is taunting him with. He knows that Tony wants him to hesitate, and turn around to look at him.

But Steve does neither.

He drops the shield and readjusts Bucky into him.

He walks away without looking back at Tony.

\---

_They’ve been in Ireland, on the small farm, doing chores, building, and fixing things for three weeks._

_Bucky lets Libby follow him to wherever he works, now. The old farmer told them to call him Brian with a small smile. He has gotten used to both of them. Has even offered some of the clothes that his youngest granddaughter used to wear. Saying that happy children liven up a household, to which Bucky can only give him a nod._

_They all have dinner in the main house now. After the first hard week of repairs that Bucky had done, Brian had asked them over for some cooked meat. It had been nice and the food went down smoothly._

_It was cold most days, and Brian had given the both of them wool jackets._

_Everything was peaceful and seemed to move at a glacier pace. Which was just fine by Bucky._

_He had patched up the roof on the cottage, and added some more insulation to warm up the small place. Libby had taken to bringing a chicken or a goat more than once into the place, so he made sure to make an area for the animal to be so that they wouldn’t mess anything up._

_On the days where the animals need attending to, Libby is happy to help. Smiling when they had been shown how to properly milk the cows and the goat._

_It was almost enough to make Bucky forget about the giant murderous elephant lurking._

_\---_

Bucky groans as he feels Steve stop just outside the elevator.

He looks up to Steve, and sees how the blonde is looking straight ahead. Frown and tension lining him.

Bucky looks in the same direction and sees T’Challa.

They can’t fight him. They’ll lose. He knows that Steve and T’Challa know that too.

“Captain.”

“Your Majesty.”

The king raises his hands and clasps the sides of his mask, pulling it off and tucking it under his arm. He doesn’t look like he wants to murder them.

“It is safe to assume that the two of you will now be hunted by most of the nations of the world.”

He looks at Steve. “I can offer you sanctuary. The both of you.”

\---

They are on the run again.

She hadn’t been able to see the fourth person that had been trailing them, and she had gotten injured. Both of them had, but Elizabeth’s cuts were practically healed by the time Nat had stolen a car. The little girl looking at the blood that stained Romanov’s jacket as they drove past another country line.

“You’re bleeding a lot.”

It had been a grenade, and Natasha had tried to cover Elizabeth as much as she could when the bomb had been thrown into the alleyway they had been using to lose the other three people. She had been able to not get blown up, but only barely.

Her entire right shoulder was burned and bleeding. It wasn’t fatal, though. At least, not yet. She needed to treat the wound, but they just didn’t have enough time yet.

They needed to find somewhere to lay low, so that she could figure out how to get a hold of Steve.

\---

_It’s late at night when his eyes open and he sits up in bed. Libby stirs next to him, but he runs a hand through her hair to shush her back to sleep._

_Something’s wrong._

_There’s nothing that should have alerted him, but he still gets up and walks out of the small bedroom. He doesn’t turn on any of the lights. He just walks towards the window that they have in the kitchen area, making sure to keep to the shadows as much as possible._

_He doesn’t know what it is, but he feels the hairs on the back of his neck stand up._

_He stays just out of sight, looking out of the window to try and see. The lights aren’t on in the main house, and there’s nothing that seems to be out of place._

_He stays standing there for a little over a minute, before he sees a horse that’s near the main house jerk up._

_He’s moving into action almost immediately. Going to the bedroom and kneeling down to shake Libby awake. He places a hand over her mouth, and when she opens her eyes, she sees how he is making a quiet sign with his other hand over his mouth._

_She nods and he takes off his hand from her face. He whispers quickly, so she knows what to do. They’ve rehearsed this._

_“something’s happening. I don’t know what yet, but I need you to hide, okay?” He says to her, knowing that she’ll take his words seriously._

_She nods._

_He walks over to the uneven dresser and digs his fingers into the side to open it up. He had built a false front to it the second day they had stayed on the farm. It is far too little for a person to fit into. But is big enough for Libby to sit in._

_She crawls into the drawer and looks up at her dad. She brings her own finger up to her mouth and Bucky nods, closing the door and sealing her away._

_\---_

Bucky had been taken into medical care as soon as they had landed in Wakanda. Steve had been looked after as well, but the majority of his wounds healed on the plane ride.

He had been in the operating room for close to fourteen hours, but he came out with his metal arm disconnected and a new smooth plating covering his shoulder. T’Challa and the prosthetic technician saying that they would need some time to make him a new arm.

Steve had been visibly relieved as he saw Bucky walk into the room the Captain had been given.

Bucky had rasped his knuckles against the open door frame, and saw Steve whip his head towards him.

“Buck”, his eyes traveled to his shoulder and Bucky tried not to be as uncomfortable as he felt. “How do you feel?”

Bucky walked into the room, Steve was sitting in one of the two sofa seats, so he went to sit on the other. “Feels like I just lost forty-seven pounds.”

Steve looked at him as he sat down and snorted. “was that a joke?”

Bucky smirked. “do those not exist anymore?”

They stayed in each other’s company for most of the day, Bucky hadn’t even gone to the room he had been given yet. Didn’t want to.

A servant had delivered a tray of food to Steve’s room, to which Steve stood to quickly take from him. A confused look on his face. “I didn’t order anything to eat.”

The other man nodded, looking completely uninterested in being face to face with Captain America. Or the former Captain America. “His majesty said that you needed to eat, and you had no excuse now that your friend has come out of surgery.”

Steve looked properly embarrassed as Bucky raised an eyebrow at that.

“If there isn’t anything else you require, Sir. I will take my leave.” The servant turned and left them in the room, with a tray full of foo for the both of them.

“you haven’t eaten?” Bucky asks when Steve puts the food down on the coffee table between them.

“I was too worried? “Steve tries, but the ridiculous look on his face makes Bucky snort at him.

“Hopeless. That’s what you are, Rogers.”

Steve picks up a small roll of bread and pops it into his mouth. “Ain’t that the truth.”

Bucky looks at Steve eat the bread, and Steve feels those eyes on him. Feels them like a weight on his neck. He swallows down the soft pastry and it feels like sandpaper in his throat at the nervousness he suddenly feels.

Bucky’s playful look is gone, and he’s staring straight into Steve’s eyes.

“Have you found Elizabeth?”

“No.” Steve struggles to say. “There’s a warrant out for Natasha and her arrest. That means they’re still in hiding.”

\---

_Bucky sneaks out of the cottage and blends into the cover the shadows of the trees by the cottage give him. He has to make his way towards the main house, and more of the animals have become agitated._

_He’s silent. His boots not even rustling the grass as he goes through the stables where the goats are. He’s almost to the steps of the house, when he sees that the side door is open._

_He decides to walk the other way and come into the window in the wash room. It’s near the kitchen and when he’s inside, he hears the breathing and faint footsteps of two people. He pockets his knives and hears a creak in the floorboards above him. Three people._

_He hears the shuffling of equipment and moves out of the wash room. The bottom floor of the house isn’t large, so he moves fast to yank the rifle out of the reach of the first person, knife driving into the gap of their goggles and mouth piece, while kicking the second person square in the chest so that they rush into the old stone of the walls._

_The first person drops down on the floor, and Bucky fits their rifle against his shoulder and shoots the second person as he opens his mouth to curse at Bucky. The bullet finding its way into his throat and out the back of his head, splattering the walls._

_Bucky hears the third pair of boots upstairs start to move quickly, and he walks out of the front door. Checking the ammo of his rifle as he walks over to the stables. Finding a position where he has a clear shot at the front of the house while he’s completely hidden._

_There is an explosion on the first level of the house, and Bucky knows that they must have thrown a grenade.  There’s a loud curse and then there’s a figure peeking out of the kicked open front door. Bucky fires and it hits the meat of their shoulder._

_“Fuck!” It’s pained and vulgar and Bucky stands up. Walking towards the house again. He has his rifle positioned, so when the man sees him, because Bucky lets him see him, he panics and tries to raise his own gun. Bucky shoots him in the arm five times._

_There’s more yelling and he stands over the man now. His eyes are wide and terrified. Looking up at Bucky like he’s a monster._

_Bucky’s pulse has never felt so steady as he raises the rifle to the man’s head and sees him start to form a sentence. He pulls the trigger and the third person bangs onto the floor. Bucky takes him in. Looks over his uniform._

_It’s dark gray. No insignia anywhere, but that doesn’t matter. Not when he was about to say those two words that Bucky hears in his nightmares so often._

_He walks back into the house and when he passes by the first two men, he kneels down and yanks out his knife from the first man’s face. Wiping the blood off with the bottom of his shirt as he makes his way upstairs._

_There isn’t any movement in the house besides his steps on the old stairs._

_He goes into the thrown open door of Brian’s room. He walks just into the doorway and sees the old man lying in bed. A bullet in his head and his white pillows stained red. Bucky doubts that he had even woken up. He hopes anyway._

_Turning around, he walks into the second bedroom. It’s a makeshift office where Brian would write down his workload and whatever needed keeping track off. There’s an old battered wooden desk facing a window. Bucky can see the cottage from it and he scans the outside just to make sure. He knows that no one else is out there._

_He bends down and opens a drawer from the side of the desk, where Brian had kept his safe. The combination is the day his wife had died._

_Opening the small metal door, Bucky takes in the belongings. There’s a box that, upon opening, Bucky sees are some old jewelry. They are fake, so he puts the box back. There’s some money. Maybe a couple of hundred dollars. He takes that out._

_He pockets the money and goes back to the other bedroom. Bucky stays in the doorway for a good five minutes staring at the old man’s dead body, and Bucky feels regret deep in his breast. He brought these men here._

_He goes downstairs and doesn’t even spare the three dead bodies a look as he makes his way outside._

_The air fogs up with his breath and he decides on what he’s going to do. He goes to each other pins and stables. Unlocking each of the gates and taking all the animals out of the small barn. Most of the animals run off a little away from the main area of the farm, but stay close by._

_That’s fine. They’ll leave soon enough. At least he can say he tried to help them get away._

_He walks into the barn and takes a barrel of hay on his back, hauling it into the house. He places the barrel in the middle of the living room and starts to deposit fistfuls all over the place. Up the stairs and surrounding Brian’s bed. When he’s satisfied, he goes into the shed on the side of the house and takes a gallon of lawnmower gasoline. He uncaps it starts to pour it outside of the house._

_He empties the container onto the entire first floor, making sure to soak the hay._

_He takes the man that he had killed in the front, and places him and the two others nearest the hay. Reaching into one of their back pockets and getting the flare that he knows is there._

_He makes his way back outside and stands to where he started the line of gasoline._

_He starts up the flare and tosses it._

_He starts walking back to the cottage as the animals start and scramble._

_He’s taken long. With everything he’s done, he’s been gone for a good thirty minutes. He goes inside and changes his clothes quickly._

_Then he kneels down next to the drawer and opens it up. He sees how Libby is sitting perfectly still, hands covering her ears, just like he taught her. She lowers them when she sees him though._

_“Hey, baby girl.”_

_She looks at him, and he knows that she notices the different clothes. “Are you okay, daddy?”_

_He nods and helps he out. Rubbing little circles on her legs, so that some circulation can come back to them. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He looks up at her. “We need to go.”_

_She looks at him. “Are we saying bye to Mr. Brian?”_

_He shakes his head. “No.”_

_She lets Bucky put a backpack that has some of the clothes she was given and some of the food that won’t spoil so soon. Bucky puts on his own back pack and they leave. Libby doesn’t even ask why Brian’s house is on fire as they take his truck._

_\---_

They are both in a house for a little bit. No one is there, right now. But Libby knows that someone lives in it. The redheaded woman is in the bathroom to try and take care of her wounds. It’s been two days since the alley. They hardly slept, and ate when they could.

They were currently in a small city, so they could rest a bit and steal another car.

Natasha had turned on the television and hurriedly flipped through the channels until a lady with short brown hair and a pointy nose appeared on the screen. Libby didn’t understand what she was saying, but Natasha raised the volume and went into the bathroom. Libby being left alone.

The channel looked like some kind of news if the desk and scrolling letters told her anything. She had seen a lot of news with her dad.

Libby looked around the house until she found the kitchen. She opened the fridge to see what they had to eat. She takes out a water bottle and starts to drink from it, because she’s thirsty.

It’s another twenty minutes before the lady comes out of the bathroom. Her jacket is tied around her waist, and Libby sees the bandages covering her shoulder. It must hurt a lot. She wonders if it’s an ugly yellow color like how some people’s cuts get. Not her’s though. Or Daddy’s.

The lady looks at her and gives a look at the water bottle. “Is there one for me, too?” It’s said a little playfully, so Libby nods and opens up the fridge so she can give her one.

“thank you. My name’s Natasha, by the way. “Nat says as she uncaps the bottle and takes big gulps of it. She drains half the water, before speaking again.

Libby looks at her. “Where’s my dad?”

Nat finishes up the water bottle, throwing it in the sink. “I don’t know.”

The tv is still going on in the background as thy rummage through the cupboards and fridge. Nat deciding sandwiches were as good as a bet as anything. Elizabeth didn’t seem to care as long as she could eat.

She kept an ear out to see if they said anything about the accords, Steve, Tony, or what had happened. She hadn’t been able to get a hold of a cellphone or hear any news. She was desperately underinformed, and she hated it.

They could only stay in the house until seven, so that gave them six hours until the owners came back. Enough to get in a quick nap, for the both of them. She was getting close to running on fumes.

She made a couple more sandwiches, and went rummaging in the rooms for a backpack or bag so they could take some stuff. She made sure to hit a house that was in a relatively good neighborhood, so that she wouldn’t feel too guilty about stealing stuff.

She was putting some crackers and three bottles of water in the bag, when she heard two very familiar names.

Libby was staring at the television as it showed a picture of both her dad and Steve. She turned back at Natasha. “What is she saying?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had mentioned Ireland in a precious chapter, and wasn't actually going to do anything with it, but this idea of something happening was too tempting.  
> See you all in the next chapter :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a short chapter

T’Challa is a very busy man. He has a country to run after all.

But He still sees Steve or Bucky if they ask him to. Or like now, when the warrant for their arrest has gone international. A manhunt for Captain America.

Steve says that he’s had a lot of those lately under his breath. As he, Bucky, and the king sit in an office looking room and watch the news coverage on the two of them. The reporter also showing the rest of Steve’s team that have been taken into custody.

Steve is crammed with guilt at having gotten his friends into his mess as the grainy footage of the airport is shown on the screen. Specifically, when everyone was getting arrested.

There was a distinct lack of Natasha and Elizabeth on the film. To which Steve knew Bucky noticed.

They had also been trying to figure out where Natasha was.

And seeing how her face and Libby’s had been plastered on the screen alongside his and Bucky’s, they were deep in hiding.

There was also some pressure and push back from the countries that had been a part of the accords. A growing suspicion in the world that Steve and Bucky were being harbored by the Wakandan King, which they were. But no one knew that for sure.

“The cannot do anything unless they have proof that the both of you are here. And even at that, if they try to forcefully remove you, the Wakandan government will see it as an act of war.”

\---

Natasha frowns as the pictures of Steve and James are switched out for pictures of her and Elizabeth.

Elizabeth is looking at her, not understanding the language the anchor woman is speaking.

“Your father and Steve are in hiding. Like us. And the world doesn’t like it very much.” Natasha says with a deep sigh as she brings up another bottle of water to her mouth. At least she knew that they hadn’t been arrested like the rest of the Avenger’s.

She packed a few more things into the bag, and then walked into the small office that the house had. She needed to get online and snoop for information for a bit. She now knew that Steve was out there. She just needed to get a hint of where.

Elizabeth walked out of the kitchen and sat down on the sofa. Her small form lying down, and Nat could see that she was having some trouble keeping her eyes open. She was probably exhausted. Nat knew that she was ready to knock out for a couple of hours herself.

She started up the computer and started to search for leads.

\---

Bucky frowned as he stood in front of Steve. He didn’t like this plan.

“I don’t like this.” He stated just so Steve could know how much he didn’t like this.

The blonde smiled at him, that mischievous glint in his eyes as he was bent on his knee lacing up his boots. “Noted.”

“Asshole. I’m serious.” Bucky nudged him with the tip of a socked foot.

Steve finished lacing up his shoes and stood up so he was face to face with him. They were in Steve’s room and the blonde was dressed in dark clothes, while Bucky had on sweatpants and a loose fitting t-shirt.

“I know you are, but so am I. I can’t just leave them there. It isn’t right, and it’s my fault they’re in there in the first place.”

Steve was going to go break out the rest of his rag tag group of avengers out of prison. Without any back up.

It was moments like this where the weightlessness of his left arm made him clench his jaw. “Someone should go with you. What if you get arrested, too?”

Steve smirked. “Would you come get me?”

“I might just let your stupid ass rot in jail.” He said in monotone, but it just made Steve smile and crinkle the corners of his eyes.

“Well”, Steve puts on his jacket and steps into Bucky’s space. Both of them stand up straight, but the atmosphere is light. “I guess I’ll just have to try my best to not get arrested.”

They are so close, that it would be so easy for Bucky to just lean in the remaining few inches and close the distance. He doesn’t though, instead he starts walking towards the door. “I’ll see you off, then.”

Steve keeps pace with him all along the compound until they reach the hangar where the jet Steve is going to take is. A similar one to what T’Challa had used to follow them to Russia.

It’s just the two of them and the people working on the floor. He and Steve look up as the ceiling starts to open up for the blonde to leave. It had been raining that morning, and a few drops that had lung onto the ceiling drop down onto them.

The cold water refreshing as the humid air of the jungle enters into the building.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Steve says from besides him, and Bucky nods. His head still tilting up to look at the sky.

“I’ll be here.”

\---

There’s a general sense of distrust that seems to be aimed at Wakanda and how they have pulled out of the Accords. Natasha looks at the news coverage videos on YouTube on how the King had publicly distanced himself and his country.

Saying something along the lines that there has been enough fighting in the world over this issue. And he just wants to take care of his people and focus on them for the time being. It would seem like a perfectly fine explanation, since he hadn’t announced an official separating from the United Nations.

But there was also the fact that he had been taken in for being the Black Panther. Had been after Barnes’ head himself. And now wants nothing to do with it. Right after Rogers and Barnes had disappeared.

It was all too convenient, and she was about ninety eight percent sure that he might be harboring the two upper soldiers.

She didn’t log into any top secret websites to access information. Opting to stick with civilian general searches to attract as little attention as possible.

The Avengers splitting apart and being taken into custody was only one of the most controversial issues in the world, right now. So, it would make sense for people to be curious about it.

After her internet browsing, it was three in the afternoon. They still had four hours until the owners came back to the house they were currently borrowing, and she still wanted to squeeze in a few hours of sleep.

Standing up from the computer desk, she cracks her neck and walks out of the office. Her eyes landing on the coach and how Elizabeth was curled into it, sleeping deeply.

The television was still on, but the news had ended. Now some foreign drama was on, so Natasha reached for the remote and switched it off.

Walking more into the living room, she stared at the sleeping figure. She really was small.

Her blonde hair was a little bit messy, a couple of tangles in it. She had thick lashes and a thin nose. All in all, she didn’t look like James at all when her eyes were closed. Not for the first time, she wondered who her mother was.

Looking at her for a second more, Nat turned around and started to go towards the linen closet she had seen earlier and coming back into the living room to drape a blanket over Elizabeth.

The little girl’s eyebrows furrowed in her sleep, before evening back out and letting out a deep sigh.

Natasha walked towards the main bedroom to get some shut eye, fiddling with the watch on her wrist to set an alarm to wake up to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! Next chapter is the last!  
> It'll be longer for sure, but I just wanted to update this fic for my Valentine's fic updates.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HERE IT IS!!!!! LAST CHAPTER  
> I am almost emotional saying goodbye to this fic :'))

Bucky doesn’t have a single thing to do while he waits for Steve to get back from his mission to save his team.

He has gone on a walk around the facility that T’Challa has housed them in. He tries really hard to not think of it as a prison. Since he can’t actually leave. It’s nice enough. State of the art, really. Teams of doctors and tech people walk around at all hours of the day, and some spare a glance at either him or Steve as they pass by. The majority don’t seem to give a crap about them one way or another.

The language isn’t one he’d been fluent in, so sometimes he will squint to concentrate on a conversation or two in the background. He wants to pick it up as soon as possible. He isn’t sure if it’s a programing of the Winter Soldier that makes him want to do this, or that’s it’s fucking annoying that he doesn’t understand what’s being said around him.

Kind of feels like when his parents would whisper to themselves whenever they were talking about him and didn’t want him to know what they were saying.

It makes him clench his jaw, but there’s no mechanical whirl of an arm recalibrating, so there’s that.

Right now, he’s in the cafeteria area of the building. He has a plate that has warm delicious food on it. He knows, because everything that they’ve eaten since they got here has been delicious. But he hasn’t touched his plate yet.

He flexes his feet under the table. He’s wearing some white tennis shoes that make him anxious about getting them dirty.

He’s cleaned the nonexistent dirt under his fingernails sixteen times, and tries to think about something. Anything except the fact that both Steve and Libby aren’t here with him, right now.

At least he knows more or less where Steve is. Libby is what makes him pace the corridors outside his and Steve’s room every night.

\---

She frowns when there’s a gentle pressure shaking her shoulder. She’s warm, and tired and just wanting to go back to sleep, but she opens her eyes anyway. She sees Natasha leaning over her. The woman’s face a little less dead and some color returned to her skin.

“We have to go.”

Sitting up, Libby notices that there’s a blanket on her that she doesn’t remember putting on herself. She brings up a hand to her face and rubs the sleep out of her eyes.

“Where are we going?”

Natasha hands her a small bag, and Libby undoes the drawstring to see what’s inside. Water bottles and some snacks. Closing the bag, and redoing the drawstring, she looks back up t Natasha and waits for her to answer her question.

The redhead takes in a deep breath and pops her neck. “South.”

Elizabeth frowns. “Why?”

“Because we need to get in touch with Steve and your dad. “

Standing up from the couch, Libby is still frowning. “Is he in the South?”

Grabbing the blanket from the couch and folding it, Natasha walks over to the linen closet and puts it back the way it was. “I don’t know. But Wakanda is.”

\---

Tony is sighing into his palm as he looks out the windows of the avengers headquarters. Pepper had called him as soon as he had gotten back to the United States. Her worried voice something that he’s missed so much, he almost teared up as she tore him a new one for all the ‘stunts’ he’s pulled. As she put it.

She had met him on the roof of the Avengers compound and had slapped him as he hobbled out of the helicopter, before bunching him against her chest to embrace him. His face tucked into her neck, and she resting his forehead softly against her shoulder as she asked him if he was okay.

He didn’t answer her, but he had a feeling that she expected him not to.

Life had slowed down to an unbearable crawl.

Half of his team were prisoners, and the other half he didn’t want to see.

He didn’t know that he could feel like this much of a failure.

Steve had fallen off the grid. So, had Barnes.

A spiteful part of him wished them a happy honeymoon, while the majority was just sad.

Him and Steve weren’t what he would call best friends. But there was a mutual respect and a budding friendship if anything. They had both been leaders of the Avengers for fuck’s sake.

There was the soft clicking of heels and he turned his head to see Pepper walking into the room with an envelope in her hands.

Her face was pinched, but she gently placed the envelope on the table in front of him. There was just his name written on the front, but the neat and almost typed quality of the writing gave away who had written it.

Steve.

He almost threw it away, but he just pressed his index finger under the flap of the envelope and tore it open.

“Do you want to read it alone?” Pepper asked him.

Tony looked up at her. She understood him so well, and was here for him while he was under rock bottom.

“Is that okay?”

Pepper nods and gives him a soft kiss to the top of his head. “I’m going to be in the living room when you’re done.”

She watches her go, and doesn’t turn back to the letter until she leaves through the door.

\---

Bucky didn’t eat his food. Not wanting to throw it away either, he placed it in the small fridge that was in Steve’s room.

He had thought about doing physical therapy, but had immediately pursed his lips. He could always go to his own room, but he never even used it. Having practically moved into Steve’s room. The staff had only raised an eyebrow or two on the first day, but now they could care less.

For a super soldier. He didn’t feel very super in the company that T’Challa kept.

At least he wasn’t being treated like a science experiment.

Also, the not being used as a killing machine was another bonus.

Walking over to the shelf against the wall, he plucked out a matte black slim hardcover notebook. It was almost new, but as he flipped it open, there was sketches on the yellowish pages. He never understood why Steve preferred the muted yellow sketch pages over white.

He looked at the first one, and walked back until the backs of his knees hit the bed and he sat down on it.

He didn’t know how long he sat on the bed, slipping through the drawings, when there was a knock at the door. He turned, seeing the man that usually came to the room. The one he had seen when he had gotten out of surgery for his shoulder.

“Is Steve back?” He asked, trying not to make his voice so hopeful.

“No, Sir. You have a phone call. “The man lifted up a silver cell phone so that Bucky could see it.

Closing the sketchbook and placing it on the bed, Bucky lifted himself off the bed and walked around the bed to take the phone from the man. “Thank you.” He said, before raising the phone to his ear.

Pressing the phone to his ear, he let his eyes drift aimlessly around the room. It was getting dark.

“Hello?”

_“Barnes, where are you?”_

It was T’Challa’s voice and Bucky sighed.

“In Steve’s room. Is everything alright?”

_“I need you to come to the bottom floor, immediately.”_

There was that gut churning adrenaline that he had almost forgotten about. “What’s happened?” The first thing that comes to mind is that something happened to Steve. That he probably got shot out of the sky or is being shown on television as a prisoner.

_“Agent Romanov is trying to make contact with us. She says that she has your daughter.”_

He is sidestepping the other man and practically sprinting down the hallways. “I’ll be right there.”

He hangs up the phone and feels his heart beating in his throat.

\---

Natasha is taping her foot furiously against the shining marble under her foot. She was being detained.

They said that she was waiting for confirmation for her request to contact the Wakandan government, but she knew what being held felt like. And boy oh boy, did it make her grind her teeth.

_They had made it the border of Wakanda in a couple of hours, and Natasha had immediately walked into the first government building she saw and asked to be put through to the King. To which she received more than a handful of laughs. Until one of the women in the office seemed to recognize her._

_Then Natasha and Elizabeth were rushed into the building and put into handcuffs._

_Libby not saying anything, but from the nasty glare she was shooting at Natasha. She probably thought that she had given them up._

_Kid was just going to have to trust her that this would work. Natasha fucking hoped it worked, too._

_They had been black bagged and shoved into a van. The vehicle driving and taking them somewhere else. It was two hours later, that they had stopped driving and were being taken out of the van._

_No one around her was talking, which annoyed her, but they all seemed to know what to do with the two of them. They went inside a building, the bag still covering her eyes, but she still heard how the lightest pair of footsteps were being led away from her. They were taking Elizabeth somewhere else._

_Great._

_They shoved her into a room, and finally took off the bag. There was a tall dark man in front of her while she blinked her eyes to get used to the sudden light._

_“What is your business here?”_

_It was heavily accented and stern. Obviously, some form of military._

_“I seek audience with the King.”_

_\---_

Bucky is panting as he reaches the bottom floor and goes to the room where T’Challa is in. There’s a large screen projected onto the wall and T’Challa turns to him as he enters.

Natasha is on the screen, her face exhausted. She looks at him when he comes in as well.

_“Barnes. Nice to see a friendly face. Well, friendly enough.”_

They must have been communicating through video. Natasha looking as if a laptop has been placed in front of her.

“Where is my daughter?”

_“She’s definitely in the same building as me. I figured you and Steve would be here in Wakanda and I should have bet money on it, because that was lucky.”_

He frowns at her. Turning towards the other man, Bucky speaks to T’Challa now. “Is Elizabeth there?”

T’Challa nods. “She is being held in another part of the building. We weren’t quite sure want to make of Agent Romanov’s sudden appearance, but considering how she helped you and Captain Rogers escape. I think she is on your side. Though,” He looks back up at the monitor. “She has switched teams recently.”

A smirk played of Natasha’s face, and Bucky has a feeling that she’s thinking something dirty.

“What do you plan on doing?” Bucky asks him next.

T’Challa is silent for a minute before calling out to the man that is standing directly behind Natasha.

“I will send a private convoy to pick up both Romanov and the girl.”

_“Yes, my King.”_

The video feed cuts off and Bucky is quick to stand in front of the other. “I’m going.”

T’Challa frowns. “I would not advise it.”

“I’m going.”

T’Challa just sighs.

\---

Steve is a little worse for wear, a nasty bruise going from his forehead to the underside of his cheekbone when he lands in the hangar. Sam gripping him tightly on the shoulder and shakes him, happily. Steve smirks and turns around to look at the rest of his team. Wanda looks the most alive again, after he had torn the collar off her.

Scott is looking out of the windshield at the inside of the hangar as Steve turns off the jet.

“Damn.”

Clint is the one who has been the quietest. Which is surprising.

The doors open and he stands up from the pilot seat, the thrum of a plan that didn’t end up blowing up in his face. He was the first to step out, a little bounce to his step and ducked his head to level the aircraft.

The rest of the team followed him out. He turned his head in both directions, but only saw the technicians boarding and checking the jet as they left. A feeling of disappointment crept in his gut at not seeing Bucky waiting for him in the hangar.

But he guessed that the brunette hadn’t meant that he’d literally be there in the Hangar when he came back.

None the less, he stretched his legs and started walking inside the main building, everyone else following behind him. Sam and Scott looking at everything as they walked.

“I’m starving.” Sam said next to him, and Steve turned to give him a smirk.

“What, they didn’t feed you in prison?”

Sam returned the smirk. “Oh, you got jokes huh? “

Laughing to himself, Steve lead them towards the cafeteria area which was a seven-minute walk and then told them how to get food. Clint stayed behind, though. Steve looked towards the other blond.

“Something on your mind?” Steve asks him.

Clint sighs. “What about our families? Mine and Scott’s? What’ll happen to them?”

As far as Steve knew, Tony had made an agreement with the Accords and Ross that their families would not be touched. Who knows if that’ll fall through now that they’ve escaped. “I don’t know.”

Clint looked like he was about to say something else, when he looked over Steve’s shoulder.

Steve turned in the same direction, and saw a woman with a stern looking face.

“Captain Rogers, I am to bring you to the hangar.”

Steve frowned. “I just came from there. Is everything alright?”

She nodded. “Everything is fine. I was just told to notify you when Mister Barnes returned back to base if you got here before he did.”

Steve tried not to think of the worse. “Why did he leave?”

“He was sent with a private convoy. I wasn’t given details on why, but he will be landing in six minutes if you wish to meet him.”

Steve nods and starts for the hallway they had just come through, but he hears another pair of footsteps beside him. Clint is there. Speeding up to keep pace with Steve. “Want company?” It’s trying to be playful, but there’s still that not quite thereness to Clint.

“Sure, Clint.”

They walk together and get back to the hangar as the ceiling closes. A small helicopter slowly descending onto the floor. The doors on the sides are closed, so Steve stands back as the spinning blades slowly come to a stop. The rush of wind, not hitting him in the face quite as hard.

It’s another minute before the door is sliding open and Steve’s eyes widen. Elizabeth is there. Jumping off the helicopter with Bucky right behind her, and Natasha climbing out after him.

Steve just stares as Elizabeth locks eyes with him and starts to stalk towards him. He doesn’t even pay attention to the “Nat?” that Clint lets out as the little girl walks in front of him and punches him right in the gut.

It’s surprisingly hard, or not surprising if he considers that both him and Bucky are her parents. He is a little bent over and stares at her in confusion.

A stern “Elizabeth!” Coming from Bucky.

Steve looks at her. “Um, what was that for?”

Libby is glaring at him and turns around so that she’s looking at Bucky. Pointing at his shoulder. “I said that I would hit you if you let anything happen to him.”

Bucky is sighing and rubbing a hand over his face. Steve can tell that he’s happy, though. If a little humored as well.

“Libby, I’m fine.”

“You don’t have an arm.”

“It was an accident.”

She turns back to Steve, who has stood back up, rubbing a hand over his sore stomach. “I said I would hit you.”

Steve can’t do anything but nod. Her angry grey eyes, losing some of their heat. “Yes, you did.”

\---

Bucky has to go back to his own room, now that he has Elizabeth with him. Steve is only a lot bummed out. But when Bucky steps up to him and says that he needs to spend time with Libby, how can Steve say no?

Natasha was checked into medical, along with the rest of the avengers. Sam jumping up at the sight of her. “What the hell?”

Nat had smiled and held up her good shoulder in surrender. Explaining what had happened between her, Steve and Bucky. Clint staying by her side, to which Natasha was grateful for.

Steve had some minor stitches, and frowned at the purpling of his stomach that had nothing to do with the jail break. So, super soldier hearing and strength was a definite.

Steve let Bucky be with Libby, and he stayed with his team. The little voice in back of his head wondering if he should tell Sam about him being Libby’s other parent. He decided against it for now. He would tell them when it felt right.

Right now, all any of them wanted to do was take a shower and sleep.

That night was the first that Steve had slept alone in his room since Bucky had gotten out of surgery for his shoulder.

They hadn’t done anything, but keep each other company, but he at least like to think that they had gotten closer during their time together.

The next day, he woke up at six and started getting dressed. He had pulled on his shirt when there was a knock on the door. Walking over to it, he opened it to have to look down. Libby was there is clean clothes and her hair neatly braided down her back. She gave Steve a once over, almost to see if he was ready, before speaking.

“Dad said to invite you to eat breakfast with us.” It was said a little forced, but Steve couldn’t help the small smile that appeared on his face.

“Is that alright with you?”

She nodded.

“Alright.” He looked back to see if he wanted to take anything besides the clothes he was wearing, but decided it was fine. Closing the door behind him, the both of them walked side by side down the hallway towards the cafeteria.

\---

It was another week, before he got a text message through the cell phone he had given Tony.

_[Tell Clint and Scott not to worry about their families. They are under my protection.]_

Steve was about to press a reply when another text appeared.

_[you’re still a fucking asshole.]_

[Take care of yourself, Tony]

\---

Bucky was mostly with Libby, but as time went on, the both of them started to engage more with the rest of the team.

He still slept in his own room, and Libby still had a little distrust for Steve. But as time went on, Steve felt like she was warming up to him. Bucky said that he would tell her about him being her other dad when the time was right, and Steve decided the same for the team.

He didn’t just want Lib to find out he was her dad. He wanted to get to know her a little better, and gain her trust before all that.

Bucky got fitted with another arm, that was the same familiar metal that Steve’s shield had been. Steve couldn’t help but find it fitting.

The three of them walk out of the room with Bucky’s new arm, and Steve thinks he feels happy. There’s a strong sense of calmness at seeing Bucky and Elizabeth walking beside him, and he thinks that he has a family. An actual one.

They walk down the corridors, and Bucky turns to Libby. “I need to talk to Steve for a little bit.”

Libby purses her lips, but nods when Bucky raises an eyebrow at her.

“I’m gonna go play with Wanda and Clint.” She says before walking off. Her long hair in a ponytail this time. Steve wonders if she had done it or Bucky had.

Then it’s just the both of them alone in the hallway. He looks at Bucky, and finds that the other is already looking at him. The way those grey eyes are staring at him makes him swallow a lump in his throat.

“What’s up?”

“Steve,” Bucky steps closer so that he’s right in front of him, and Steve can feel his breath getting a little shallow.

“yeah?”

His heartbeat is right in his throat when he feels Bucky close the distance between them and kisses him. Its soft and only lips pressing against each other closed, but it makes every cell in Steve’s body freeze and jump into overdrive.

Bucky steps back a little so that he can look at Steve. “Thank you.”

His face is red as he speaks, voice a little hoarse. “was that a thank you kiss?”

“Yeah,” Bucky leans in again and brings up his flesh hand to gently balance himself on Steve’s shoulder.

Steve feels pressure against his mouth, and he opens up to feel Bucky’s tongue. He tries really hard not to groan right into Bucky’s mouth in the middle of the hallway, so he settles for fisting his hands in the soft material of the other’s hoodie. He has his eyes closed and tilts his head to deepen the kiss.

Then Bucky is pulling away again and when Steve opens his eyes, he sees that Bucky had had his eyes closed too.

“And that’s an I love you kiss.”

Bucky opens up his eyes and they look like melted silver.

Steve can’t help but grin. “Dang it, Barnes. I’m getting swept off my damn feet here.”

Bucky smirks and gives him another kiss, before stepping away.

They both start walking again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> honestly, like I am just so?? happy and fulfilled with how this fic turned out.  
> and i just want to really thank all of you who stuck with this story and gave me such amazing feedback.  
> This journey may be over, but I'm still gonna be writing fics for a while. and I hope that you'll like some of them as well. 
> 
>  
> 
> and like??? what a sweet ending right?  
> think of it as a thank you to all of you :)
> 
> \--------------------------------------------
> 
> there is a sequel to this fic!  
> it's called "to cut through all this Worn out Leather " on my profile, or you can click the little next on the series part.
> 
> also, i don't know if any of you caught it. It was pretty subtle, but Libby is dyslexic in this fic

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah :)  
> Leave me comment, because they make my damn day!  
> Also Kudos


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